Standard A l Standard B l Standard C l Standard D l Standard E l Standard F l Standard G

Teaching Personal Financial Literacy with Children's Literature

Using children's literature is a great way to integrate financial literacy concepts into your curriculum. Visit Kids Econ Posters, from the Indiana Council for Economic Education, for a list of children's books that could be used to teach economic concepts. We have correlated this list to Wisconsin's Model Academic Standards for Personal Financial Literacy; download the Correlated List of Kids Econ Posters.

Standard A: Relating Income and Education

Jobs/Careers Teacher Resources
These cross-curricular lesson plans and printables on jobs and careers will help students understand the breadth of opportunities available to them.
Source: TeacherVision

Standard B: Money Management

Money Responsibility (lesson 2)
This lesson introduces students to the concept of being responsible for managing money through accurate record-keeping. Students practice keeping records and discuss scenarios dealing with responsible spending.
Source: Visa: Practical Money Skills for Life (must be registered to see lesson materials)

Hands on Banking
Introduce your students to an alien named Zing that will teach them about money and how you earn it, budgeting, saving, checking and credit.  Students help Zing choose a job to earn money, create a budget and write a check.
Source: Wells Fargo Bank

Money Lesson Plans and Materials
These money lesson plans and resources are designed to provide educators with strategies for teaching personal finance education in the 3-6 grade classroom. Prepare your students to become more knowledgeable consumers, wise savers and investors, responsible users of credit, and careful decision makers.
Source: Money Management International

Standard C: Credit and Debit

Giving Credit
This lesson introduces the role and importance of the 3 C’s -- capacity, character, and collateral – to being granted credit. An online story about a girl who fails to return soccer shin guards borrowed from a friend is used to spark discussion on responsible borrowing.
Source: Council for Economic Education

Creating a Classroom Economy
Students are actively involved in a year-long study of economics where they earn credits and debits while maintaining a class bank and store. The unit is cross-curricular: students learn major-principles concepts, as well as use math skills on a daily basis. 9  
Source: Scholastic

Standard D: Planning Saving and Investing

Do you like to spend or save?
Help students examine their attitudes towards saving and spending. Students create a graph and discuss the survey results.  This is a great way to connect financial literacy to mathematics.
Source: The United States Mint

Money Hungry Piggy Bank
Collaborate with the art teacher!  The Money Hungry Piggy Bank is a fun papier-mâché piggy banks activity.
Source: The United States Mint

Spending Plans (lesson 2)
Students are introduced to the concept that money is limited and can be used for different things. They are taught how to divide it into three categories: save, spend and share.
Source: Visa: Practical Money Skills for Life (must be registered to see lesson materials)

Standard E: Becoming a Critical Consumer

Are You Money Smart?
Here’s an English Language Arts connection!  Students discuss the irony of this coin-centric poem. They will also practice letter writing and be able to identify and count coin values. 
Source: The United States Mint

Clipping Coupons
In this lesson, students will calculate savings for different products when using coupons. They will also decide what factors influence the choices they make when choosing products.
Source: Council for Economic Education

Grand Scam
When your money’s at stake, you want to hit a grand slam – not a grand scam!
Source: Federal Trade Commission

Standard F: Community and Financial Responsibility

Who Pays for City Hall?
The students take a virtual field trip to City Hall in this kid-friendly site. This beginning civics/economic lesson will introduce your students to city government and teach economics on the way!
Source: Council for Economic Education

5-Spot’s Clubhouse
5-Spot's clubhouse gives kids the chance to earn money, spend it, and donate it.  Kids get to decorate their own clubhouse.  There are games, stories and even a calculator to help kids determine how much a pet might cost!
Possible links for grade levels?
Source: Credit Union National Association, Inc

Standard G: Risk Management

The Hurricane Game
Watch this YouTube video clip is of an instructor guiding students though a simulation of buying hurricane insurance.  Based on rolling dice, students are able to see the probabilities of having their homes damaged from a hurricane.  They also learn about the costs associated with coverage.  Try this lesson in your classroom!

If you find a great Risk Management lesson or website, contact us!

Standard A: Relating Income and Education

Human Capital for Money
Students are introduced to the terms human capital, occupation, salary and wages before comparing median salaries and educational statistics of selected careers.  Students then research career to present their career of choice through song.
Source: National Council on Economic Education: Econ Ed Link

Why Work Now?
Students examine correlation between education and salaries and learn why employers want the best workers money can buy.
Source: National Council on Economic Education: Econ Ed Link

IT PAYS TO BE IN SCHOOL
Students learn about incentive programs to stay in school and recognize the benefits of doing so.
Source: National Council on Economic Education: Econ Ed Link

Constitution Costs
Students understand the basic services provided by the constitution and the need for taxes to fund them. They debate the pros and cons of government funding of particular services.
Source: National Council on Economic Education: Econ Ed Link

Standard B: Money Management

Budgeting Your Financial Resources
Students identify income sources and expenses, both fixed and variable, and develop a personal budget.
Source: Northwestern Mutual Foundation: The Mint

The Art of Budgeting (Lesson 3)
Students identify and prioritize personal and financial goals.  They identify identify current spending behaviors and patterns, understand what it means to budget, identify reasons to do so, and create a budget to support their goals..
Source: Visa: Practical Money Skills for Life (must be registered to see lesson materials)

Living on your Own (Lesson 4)
Students set up a budget, including rent, moving expenses, setting up housekeeping, understanding rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants, read and interpret a lease.
Source: Visa: Practical Money Skills for Life (must be registered to see lesson materials)

Wallpaper Woes (pdf)
Students simulate redecorating a room on a budget, learning about tradeoffs, budget constraints and expenses.
Source: U.S. Treasury: Money Math

Budgeting Hero
This fun calculator allows students to enter their own monthly earnings and expenses and try to balance the budget.
Source: Credit Union National Association

Standard C: Credit and Debt Management

Buy Now and Pay More Later
Students determine the costs and benefits of credit card use, analyze the decision-making process when using credit cards and identify ways and criterion needed to establish and obtain credit.
Source: Northwestern Mutual Foundation: The Mint

Q T Pi Fashions - Learning About Credit Card Use
Students experience the joys and dangers of credit card use as they help the character solve her credit card problems.
Source: National Council on Economic Education: Econ Ed Link

Credit Cards (lesson 8)
Students evaluate terms and conditions of various credit card, determining the differences between legal and financial responsibilities involved.
Source: Visa: Practical Money Skills for Life (must be registered to see lesson materials)

In Trouble (lesson 13)
Students analyze the behaviors and circumstances that can lead to financial trouble and identify some of the options for people in financial difficulties.
Source: Visa: Practical Money Skills for Life (must be registered to see lesson materials)

Standard D: Planning, Saving, and Investing

Saving and Investing
Students learn the advantages and disadvantages of savings and investment vehicles and show short and long-term effects of their choices.
Source: Visa: Practical Money Skills for Life

The Secret of Becoming a Millionaire
Students learn how saving helps people become wealthy.  They learn the six rules to becoming a millionaire.
Source: U.S. Treasury: Money Math

Take a Risk on Investor Island
Students visit Investor Island to learn about investment, risk and return as they explore stocks and bonds investment options, discovering the trade-off between risk and return.
Source: National Council on Economic Education: Econ Ed Link

Climbing the Savings Mountain
Students discover how saving money is like a mountain climb as they learn that there are a variety of ways in which to save, depending on whether they have short-term or long-term goals.
Source: National Council on Economic Education: Econ Ed Link

Time Value of Money
Students learn about interest as they choose a repayment plan for a loan to a sibling.
Source: National Council on Economic Education: Econ Ed Link

My Super Savings and Spending Plan
This fun calculator allows students to choose savings targets, enter monthly savings goals and calculate when they will be able to afford the item.
Source: Credit Union National Association

How a Lump Sum Investment Grows l How a Periodic Investment Grows
Use these two calculators to demonstrate the value of long-term regular investing.
Source: Credit Union National Association

Standard E: Becoming a Critical Consumer

How E-Commerce Influences Consumer Choice
Students learn the importance of price in decision-making and discover the role of e-commerce in the current marketplace.
Source: National Council on Economic Education: Econ Ed Link

Marketplace: Real(ity) Estate
Students buy a house, learning about opportunity costs and affects of advertising on consumer decision-making.
Source: National Council on Economic Education: Econ Ed Link

The Higher You Climb, the More You Pay
Students take a virtual tour of the Eiffel Tower, problem-solving to pay admission, buy a bottle of water and pay to use the telescope at the top of the tower.
Source: National Council on Economic Education: Econ Ed Link

It Costs What?!
Students learn how it’s possible for four friends to pay different amounts for the same $350 sound system.
Source: WNET Public Television: What’s Up in Finance?

Consumer Awareness Lesson
Students combine decision-making methods with comparative shopping techniques, recognize scams and learn how to handle consumer complaints.
Source: Visa: Practical Money Skills for Life (must be registered to see lesson materials)

You Are Here
Students explore a virtual mall to learn key consumer concepts, such as how advertising affects people, how (and why) to protect your personal information, and how to spot scams. Each area of the mall focuses on a different topic.
Source: Federal Trade Commission

Standard F: Community And Financial Responsibility

Comparative Economic Systems
Students research economic systems of communist and third-world countries and compare them to the United States.
Source: National Council on Economic Education: Econ Ed Link

Frontier Specialists
Students learn that the level of output in an economy can be increased through specialization, requiring people to exchange goods
and services.
Source: National Council on Economic Education: Econ Ed Link

Standard G: Risk Management

Safeguarding Your Money
Students learn about different types of insurance in five topic areas: protecting property, health insurance, protecting autos, life insurance, protecting your income.
Source: Northwestern Mutual Foundation: The Mint

Lemonade for Sale
Students become online entrepreneurs running a lemonade stand.  They should have prerequisite knowledge of productive resources and profit and loss.
Source: National Council on Economic Education: Econ Ed Link

Standard A: Relating Income and Education

Making Decisions (Lesson 1)
This lesson covers the decision-making process, factors that can influence a decision, common decision making strategies, economic influences on decision making, risks associated with decision making, and opportunity cost and the time-value of money.
Source: Visa: Practical Money Skills for Life (must be registered to see lesson materials)

Online Occupational Handbook
Use to study career clusters, view labor market information, understand working conditions and wages, and gain comprehensive knowledge of post-secondary schools. An online teacher's guide is also provided.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

WisCareers
This yearly subscription Web site allows students to take self-assessments, obtain information on more than 700 occupations based on the Career Clusters and Pathways, view Wisconsin Labor Market information, and learn about more than 3400 post-secondary schools. Students can also use the site to create an e-portfolio, individual learning plan, career planning guide, resume, cover letter and budget.
Source: University of Wisconsin Center on Education and Work

Standard B: Money Management

Understanding Taxes Lesson Plans - The How's of Taxes
These lesson plans include tax tutorials, simulations, assessment, and fact sheets.
Source: Internal Revenue Service

Understanding Wisconsin Taxes Student Guide and Teacher Guide (pdf)
These two PDF files feature a packet that walks students through a simulation of filing a state tax return.
Source: Wisconsin Department of Revenue

The Art of Budgeting (Lesson 3)
This lesson plan covers the budgeting process and goal setting guidelines.
Source: Visa: Practical Money Skills for Life (must be registered to see lesson materials)

Spreading the Budget
A lesson plan on creating a budget and tweaking it to fit different circumstances. This lesson teaches students the importance of a budget and how to create a budget using MS Excel.
Source: U.S. Treasury: Money Math

Monthly Budgeting Calculator
Use this calculator to manage expenses typical for a high school student.
Source: Googolplex: The CU Guide for Student Moneymakers - C-Note

Your Life, Your Money
Online videos feature real-life stories of young people finding their way through a variety of economic challenges. Find information on dealing with credit cards, student loans, savings accounts, 401Ks, plus great short videos on budgeting, credit reports, compound interest, and an online game.
Source: PBS

Standard C: Credit and Debt Management

Mortgage Calculator
This is a mortgage calculator that allows students to figure out monthly principal and interest payments for a given mortgage amount. It also provides an amortization schedule, and allows users to add an additional payment and see the affect. The Re-finance calculator demonstrates the financial effects of refinancing a mortgage. (site contains advertising)
Source: Bankrate.com

Bankrate.com
This Web site contains news, tips and advice to compare mortgage rates, home equity loans, CDs, car loans, credit cards and money market accounts.  Go to Calculators on the top of the page. Under Credit Card Calculators you can show your students The true cost of paying the minimum on a credit card. This is an eye-opening experience.  There are several different calculators showing various types of money management. (site contains advertising)
Source: Bankrate, Inc.

Bad Credit Hotel
Play this funky online game to learn about managing credit. Students explore the hotel to learn about credit scores, credit history and debt management.
Source: U.S. Treasury

Credit Card Interest Saving Calculator
Use this calculator to demonstrate the true costs of credit and develop skills for managing existing debt. Students can compare the results of making the minimum payment and of making alternative larger payments.
Source: Googolplex: The CU Guide for Student Moneymakers - C-Note

Consumer's Guide to Credit Cards
This site includes an interactive guides to understanding the terms and conditions of credit card offers and to reading a monthly statement, as well as a guide to the new credit cards rules that went into effect in 2010.
Source: Federal Reserve System

Standard D: Planning, Saving, and Investing

MyMoney.gov
A U.S. government website dedicated to teaching all Americans the basics about financial education. Whether you are planning to buy a home, balancing your checkbook, or investing in your 401k, the resources on MyMoney.gov can help you do it better. Throughout the site, you will find important information from 20 federal agencies government wide.
Source: U.S. Financial Literacy and Education Commission

The Stock Market Game
A simulation designed to help grade 4 through 12 and post-secondary students learn about economics, finance, and the American economic system. There is a fee to participate.
Source: Foundation for Investor Education

Virtual Stock Exchange
The site allows you to create a stock market game with your students. The students can put together their own personal portfolios and buy and sell stocks during class time with little to no restrictions, unless you set them. The Virtual Stock Exchange is free and easy to use.  The game includes current markets: NYSE, Nasdaq, and AMEX.
Source: The Wall Street Journal Digital Network: MarketWatch, Inc.

Yahoo! Finance Stock Research Center
For lessons about stocks, students can enter a stock abbreviation to research a particular stock, including charts, financial information and historical stock prices.
Source: Yahoo Finance

College Savings Calculator
Use this calculator to compare the financial implications of factors such as tuition amount, monthly savings amount, rate of return, etc.
Source: Credit Union National Association: Googolplex: The CU Guide for Student Moneymakers - C-Note

Investment Calculators
Use these calculators to compare the results of periodic vs. lump sum investing.
Source: Credit Union National Association: Googolplex: The CU Guide for Student Moneymakers - C-Note

Standard E: Becoming a Critical Consumer

Buying a House (Lesson 5)
This lesson provides students with information on buying a home. After comparing the differences between renting and buying, students will be
introduced to a five-step process for home buying. This framework includes activities involved with selecting a mortgage, qualifying for a home loan, and closing costs. Then students are put on the other side of the real estate transaction as a seller.
Source: Visa: Practical Money Skills for Life (must be registered to see lesson materials)

ApartmentGuide
Use this website to teach students how to look for apartments online and compare features and prices.
Source: Consumer Source, Inc.

Find a Home
Use this website to teach students how to look for houses online and compare features and prices.
Source: National Association of Realtors.

Living On Your Own (Lesson 4)
This lesson covers moving and moving-in costs, lease agreements, and rights and responsibilities for tenants and landlords.
Source: Visa: Practical Money Skills for Life (must be registered to see lesson materials)

Consumer Reports Magazine 
Use the Consumer Reports articles to teach students about being responsible consumers and comparing products before they buy. There is a fee to subscribe to the Consumer Reports Magazine; however, Wisconsin schools and residents have free access to the magazine online through BadgerLink.
Source: Consumer Reports Magazine

Reality Check
This is a link to lessons and sites that teach about Lending Rip-offs such as rent-to-own and predatory lending.
Source: New Jersey Coalition for Financial Education, What Young Adults Need to Know About Money

Consumer Issues and Education Lesson Plans
This website features lesson plans such as Consumer Rights and Responsibilities, Debit Card vs. Credit Card, Buying a Car or a Lemon, Identity Theft, Fraud on the Internet, and more.
Source: Financial Management Education

Standard F: Community And Financial Responsibility

Understanding Taxes
Access all the great educational content found in the Understanding Taxes program on the Internet! This online version includes detailed lesson plans, interactive activities, simulations and more!
Source: Internal Revenue Service

Consumer Consequences
Play this game designed to illustrate the impact of our lifestyles on the Earth.
Source: American Public Media

Standard G: Risk Management

Don't Risk It
Students learn how to evaluate health insurance by comparing different plans based on a given scenario.
Source: Missouri Department of Insurance 

Financial Security Lesson Plans - Insurance
This website features lessons on the various types of insurance.
Source: Financial Management Education